Category: Emergency Preparedness

The Four Phases of Emergency Management

In the e-prep world, where I live a lot, these phases are ones that I am familiar with. It’s safe to say that in today’s world, all of these phases are happening somewhere around the globe. For the past four or five years I have been focusing on mitigation and preparedness in my role as a Sunnyside Neighborhood Emergency Team (NET) member.

Mitigation – Preventing future emergencies or minimizing their effects

Includes any activities that prevent an emergency, reduce the chance of an emergency happening, or reduce the damaging effects of unavoidable emergencies. Buying flood and fire insurance for your home is a mitigation activity. Mitigation activities take place before and after emergencies.

Preparedness – Preparing to handle an emergency

Includes plans or preparations made to save lives and to help response and rescue operations. Evacuation plans and stocking food and water are both examples of preparedness. Preparedness activities take place before an emergency occurs.

Response – Responding safely to an emergency

Includes actions taken to save lives and prevent further property damage in an emergency situation. Response is putting your preparedness plans into action. Seeking shelter from a tornado or turning off gas valves in an earthquake are both response activities. Response activities take place during an emergency.

Recovery – Recovering from an emergency

Includes actions taken to return to a normal or an even safer situation following an emergency. Recovery includes getting financial assistance to help pay for the repairs. Recovery activities take place after an emergency.

Early on, I went door to door with my neighbor Karen and her girls passing out materials to help neighbors get, and be, prepared. With the help of some neighbors on SE Taylor and Yamhill, I created a neighborhood list for those willing to share their phone numbers and email addresses. Sometimes I put on my NET vest and pick up garbage on SE Taylor, especially the day after garbage, recycling and compost have been picked up. I periodically check the storm drains for clogged leaves on the northeast and southeast corners of Cesar Chavez and report the need for them to be cleared, if necessary.

It’s important to mention that I am not the only one doing work to keep our neighborhood safe. Others are cleaning up around Walgreens and reporting stolen cars and keeping their sidewalks and stairs clear for pedestrians, bikers, and essential workers who deliver food and other essential items to our front doors.

It takes all of us to be active members of our community and keep each other safe. We are the ones we have been waiting for.

Step up, step up, step up.

Thank you.

Questions? Comments? Need support in getting prepared? I have the time and the resources to support you. Email me: [email protected]

Emergency Preparedness and the SNA Board Meeting

Digital preparedness on my cell phone.

As I look at my iPhone 11, I see what kind of resources I have to keep me up-to-date for emergency response. To begin with, I have my children, my husband and a good friend in Portland listed as emergency contacts on my phone. It’s especially important to have at least one emergency contact be someone out-of-state and to have that person be aware of that role. It’s likely that text messaging will be the best way to communicate, at least for awhile, if the power is knocked out city-wide or state-wide.

In the event of an earthquake or an extended power outage, having one or more power banks is important, as phone batteries drain quickly in the cold. Turning off unnecessary functions like GPS, Bluetooth and WiFi will significantly extend battery life. The apps that I have installed on my iPhone are: American Red Cross Emergency, American Red Cross First Aid, 211info, FEMA (you can customize alerts), and NOAA Weather.

And, finally, when I hear of any weather event that might affect the power in our area, I immediately charge up my phone to 100%.

April Meeting and Events Cancelled, May Board Elections Postponed

We are working with SE Uplift on a protocol for conducting public meetings and board elections while complying with physical distancing recommendations. Our hope is to have this protocol in place in time to hold a regular May meeting and proceed with board elections in June.

The District 42 Candidate Forum scheduled for April 16th is indefinitely postponed. We will post back here if a plan emerges to hold this event at a later date either online or in person if conditions permit.

For the most locally relevant info, you can follow Multnomah County’s COVID-19 response measures at their website: https://multco.us/novel-coronavirus-covid-19

Stay kind out there and please check on your neighbors. If you or a neighbor you know needs help, or if you’d like to offer to be a neighborhood help coordinator for your block or immediate area, please contact us via email. [email protected]

Sunnyside Prepared Meeting Notes – Jul 19 2016

Sunnyside is more Prepared every day! 🙂 At our meeting we exchanged lots of great ideas, and developed new plans.

  • We had 14 attendees; five joined us for the first time. There were eight NETs, including two visiting from Buckman and Hosford-Abernathy who shared their experience and excellent suggestions.
  • Outreach and volunteer opportunities! (NET training is NOT required. But for NETs, helping at these events counts toward your 12-hour annual service requirement.)
    • Our Belmont Street Fair booth, Sep 10. Volunteers are needed 9:30am-8pm. Please read more and consider signing up for a short shift. We’ll be giving away free 2.5gal water containers to the public, so our booth will be especially popular this year. (Kudos for Kenton/Arbor Lodge NET for providing the containers.)
    • Hawthorne Street Fair, Aug 28, coordinated by Richmond NET.
    • Buckman Picnic, Aug 14, 5-8pm.
    • Della is leading outreach to local businesses to gain their support and make the Sunnyside Prepared “brand” ubiquitous in our ‘hood. Want to help?
    • We will never be finished preparing, so let’s prioritize projects that interest you and will keep you engaged. What would you like to do? 
  • We are collaborating with Mark Wells of the Office of Neighborhood Involvement, and also the SNA Crime Prevention Committee to integrate better with NET. It’s a no-brainer. On Sep 20 there will be a training session for Neighborhood Watch Block Organizers; info is on NextDoor.
  • Jan discussed the hot topic of ATVs and SUVs (“alternatively trained volunteers” and “spontaneous untrained volunteers”). Both will be key components of our Operations Plan.
  • Ann and Lee described their very successfuly block party which had an emergency preparedness theme, and featured a visit from the Firefighters of Station 09. We also had an excellent presentation about pee/poo buckets and composting toilets. Let us know if you’d like to replicate this kind of event on your block. Fifty+ people attended and appreciated the info.
  • Ann offered to research nearby locations where PBEM might be able to hold NET Basic Training classes. With 30+ NET Applicants in Sunnyside (and 1,100+ citywide) we want to host a training locally to make it easier for people to attend. Give a shout if you’d like to help in any way.
  • Bill from Hosford-Abernathy NET is a geologist and provides “neighborhood geology” presentations to small groups/potlucks to explain the conditions in our micro-neighborhoods. We’re following up with him. Contact us if you’re interested in hosting.
  • Sunnyside Neighborhood Association update
    • At its regular meeting Jul 14 the SNA board approved the balance of of our $1,209 budget request to support printing & outreach through Nov 2016.
    • We appreciate the board’s continued support of our collective work to keep Sunnyside Prepared!
  • Next meeting: Tue, Sep 20 2016, 6-6:30pm We are skipping August to devote time to the public outreach events. This brief Sep meeting will precede the Neighborhood Watch training session mentioned above. I’m planning to schedule a NET team exercise in October.
  • Register your Fred Meyer Rewards account to leverage your purchases for the Sunnyside NET equipment fund. You still get all your own rewards, plus benefit the team! Just log into (or create) your account and search for organization # 88309 (Friends of Portland Fire & Rescue).

Many thanks to all of you who participate in any and every way to build community and help all of us prepare!

Sunnyside Prepared Meeting Notes – June 21, 2016

  • Six NETs attended our election meeting. Glenn C. Devitt was appointed team leader for a two-year term.
  • Our special event, Magnitude 7.9 Nepal Earthquake: The Firsthand Experience of Dr. Erin Moore, was a great success. Sixty-three people attended, including representatives of 23 different NET teams from around the city.
  • Next regular meeting: Tue, July 19 2016 10-11:30am
    Jeff Morris Fire Museum, SE Belmont & 35th Ave